The 10 hours Just Energy gives away
Start with the answer most people came for: the free window on Just Energy's Nights Free plan runs from 9:00 pm to 7:00 am, every night of the year. Ten hours. Just Energy's own Texas plans page says it plainly: "Use electricity from 9 PM to 7 AM every night and you won't pay for it during those hours." The energy charge for anything your meter records in that window comes back to you as a bill credit.
Just Energy's Texas plans page says the plan comes in 12, 24, and 36 month fixed terms, and a 100% Green version layers renewable-energy certificates on top through the company's JustGreen program. What you will not find is the plan in the usual shopping venues: as of August 2026 it is not listed on powertochoose.org, the PUCT's official comparison site, in the Oncor or CenterPoint territories we checked, and it does not appear in the live marketplace feed on this site. Just Energy sells it through its own website and phone line. (For how this whole plan family works, see our guide to free nights and weekends plans.)
The seller is Just Energy, the Houston-based retail provider (PUCT license 10052) that also runs the Amigo Energy and Tara Energy brands. Winter Storm Uri's ERCOT invoices pushed the company into creditor protection in March 2021; it emerged in December 2022 owned by funds managed by PIMCO, the bond manager. That history matters here for one reason: this is a company that prices risk carefully. Keep that in mind when we get to the day rate.
Claims vs. fine print
Four claims on the front. Four footnotes on the back. Here they are, side by side.
The mailer says
"Use electricity from 9 PM to 7 AM every night and you won't pay for it during those hours."
The fine print says
The hours are accurate: 9:00 pm to 7:00 am. But "won't pay" means a bill credit for the per-kWh energy charge, applied after the fact from your smart meter's interval data. The $4.95 base charge bills every month regardless, and the EFL warns that on days your interval data does not reach Just Energy in time, you may not receive credits at all.
Source: justenergy.com Texas plans page (August 2026); Nights Free EFL, November 2023 (Oncor)
The mailer says
"10 hours of free electricity at night."
The fine print says
The 10 free hours are funded by the 14 that are not. The last Nights Free EFL we could retrieve priced the energy charge at 27.0 cents per kWh, delivery included, roughly double the cheapest flat-rate Oncor plan at 1,000 kWh on the day we published (13.2 cents, our live feed). The label's own advertised averages, 18.6, 18.1, and 17.9 cents at 500, 1,000, and 2,000 kWh, already assume 35% of your usage happens overnight.
Source: Nights Free EFL, November 2023 (Oncor); ElectricRates.org live Oncor feed, August 6, 2026
The mailer says
"Comes with a fixed rate for 12, 24, or 36 months."
The fine print says
The structure is fixed; the number is not public. As of August 2026, Just Energy's own Rates and Documents page lists no Nights Free EFL for Texas, its EFL file server blocked our requests for current labels, and its online enrollment tool reported no available plans, citing scheduled maintenance. One more wrinkle: the last readable Nights Free EFL was for a 60 month term, a length the plan pitch does not mention. Leaving early costs $175 under that EFL.
Source: justenergy.com Texas plans page (August 2026); justenergy.com Rates and Documents page (checked August 6, 2026); Nights Free EFL, November 1, 2023 (Oncor)
The mailer says
"Free Nights Plan is available to Texas residential customers."
The fine print says
Not all of them. Just Energy's own page states that homes with solar panels or other distributed generation systems are not eligible. If you have panels, this plan is off the table before you start.
Source: justenergy.com Free Nights plan page (August 2026)
The rate you cannot read today
Every electricity plan sold in Texas carries an Electricity Facts Label, the standardized disclosure that states the price. We went looking for the current one. As of August 2026: Just Energy's own Rates and Documents page offers no Nights Free EFL for Texas, only variable-rate and standard-terms documents, and the company's EFL file server blocked our requests for current labels. Its online enrollment tool reported no available plans, citing scheduled maintenance. The plan is not listed on powertochoose.org in the Oncor or CenterPoint territories we checked, and it is not among the 14 Just Energy plans in the live marketplace feed on this site. For practical purposes, the current price of this plan is not public.
The last Nights Free EFL we could retrieve and read in full is dated November 1, 2023: the 100% Green Nights Free Plan 60 for Oncor territory, a 60 month term, longer than any length the plan's pitch advertises today. Its numbers: an energy charge of 27.0 cents per kWh, all supply and delivery included, on everything outside the free window; a $4.95 base charge every billing cycle; and advertised averages of 18.6, 18.1, and 17.9 cents at 500, 1,000, and 2,000 kWh. Those averages only work because the label assumes 35% of your usage lands overnight. The figures are almost three years old and may not reflect today's offer. They are also the only ones the company's documents will show you.
We are not claiming today's rate is 27.0 cents. We cannot claim anything about it, because we cannot see it. A plan built entirely on a pricing structure, sold without a readable price, is itself the finding.
Nights Free is sold through justenergy.com and Just Energy's phone line (866-629-8693, the number on its Free Nights page). It is not listed on powertochoose.org, where Just Energy offers other plans such as Basics PTC and Smart Choice, and it does not appear in the marketplace feed on this site. When we checked on August 6, 2026, Just Energy's online enrollment tool returned no plans, citing scheduled maintenance, and its Rates and Documents page offered no Nights Free EFL for Texas. Ask for the current Electricity Facts Label and read the day rate before you sign.
How the free nights work
Your smart meter records usage in intervals, and your utility passes that interval data to Just Energy. After the billing period, Just Energy adds up what you used between 9:00 pm and 7:00 am and credits those energy charges back on your bill. Unlike some free-period plans, the credit covers the full bundled energy charge, delivery component included. On paper, a kWh used at midnight costs you nothing.
Three things still bill every month. The $4.95 base charge. The state's securitization charges, small per-kWh line items left over from the 2021 storm cleanup. And taxes. Use less than 400 kWh in a cycle and a $4.99 minimum-usage fee joins them. One more caveat sits in the EFL's own text: if your interval usage data is not available to Just Energy when your bill is generated, you may not receive credits for those days. Your free window depends on a data feed you cannot see or fix.
Eligibility has a hard edge: homes with solar panels or any distributed generation are not eligible, per Just Energy's own plan page. And leaving early costs $175, the exit fee on the Nights Free EFL we read.
Do the math on 10 free hours
Ten hours is 41.7% of a day. If your usage were perfectly flat around the clock, 41.7% of your kWh would land in the free window, and on the 2023 EFL's pricing your average would still work out to roughly 16.3 cents per kWh with the base charge folded in. No real home runs flat, and Texas homes cluster the wrong way for this plan: air conditioning does its heaviest work in the afternoon and evening, exactly the hours billed at full price.
Just Energy's own label assumed 35% of usage overnight, and that assumption produced its advertised 18.1 cents at 1,000 kWh. To match the cheapest flat no-gimmick Oncor plan on the day we published (13.2 cents at 1,000 kWh), you would need about 53% of your monthly usage inside the free window, half again what the company itself expects from its customers. To match the market's cheapest all-in plan (7.0 cents), about 76%. These are illustrations built on the 2023 rate, the last one we could read. The structure they describe has not changed: the free nights are funded by the price of the days.
The brand's other plans show the same pricing instinct. In our live Oncor feed on publish day, Just Energy's Smart Choice 24 runs 26.8 cents at 500 kWh, 13.9 at 1,000, and 20.0 at 2,000, the most expensive bill-credit cliff in the feed. Its Simple Value 12 inverts the trick: 15.1 cents at 500 kWh, 22.0 at 2,000. Structure-first pricing is what this company does. Nights Free is the same move with a clock instead of a credit, and TXU's Free Pass is the same move with a calendar.
9 pm to 7 am
The free window, every night, per Just Energy's site and EFL (10 hours)
35%
Overnight usage share Just Energy assumed when advertising its average price (Nov 2023 EFL)
18.1¢
The average that assumption produced at 1,000 kWh, Oncor territory (Nov 2023 EFL)
~53%
Overnight share needed to match a 13.2¢ flat plan at 1,000 kWh (our illustration on the 2023 rate)
Fine print, decoded
The five footnotes on the back of the mailer, translated into plain English.
| What the footnote says | What it means |
|---|---|
| Night Hours are 9:00 PM to 7:00 AM. Your bill will contain a credit for Energy Charges resulting from energy consumed during Night Hours. | Free means credited back after the fact, and only the per-kWh energy charge. The $4.95 base charge is never free. |
| The price disclosure is based on the average usage levels with an estimated 35% consumption during Night Hours. | The advertised average assumes more than a third of your electricity gets used between 9 pm and 7 am. Shift less than that overnight and your real average runs higher than the label. |
| You may not receive credits for usage during Night Hours on some days of the term if your interval usage data is not available from the utility at the time your bill is generated. | If the utility's data feed hiccups, those nights bill at the full rate. The plan's core promise is conditional on infrastructure you cannot see. |
| A Minimum Usage Fee of $4.99 will apply to billing cycles less than 400 kWh. | Low-usage months get a penalty fee on top of the base charge. Small apartments pay extra for using less. |
| Do I have a termination fee or any fees associated with terminating service? Yes. The exit fee is $175. | Leaving before the term ends costs $175. The plan's pitch mentions 12, 24, and 36 month terms; the last readable EFL was for a 60 month term. |
| Homes with solar panels or other distributed generation systems aren't eligible. | Solar disqualifies you entirely. The customers best equipped to shift usage overnight, because they generate their own daytime power, are the ones Just Energy will not enroll. |
What to do instead
For contrast, here is the live Oncor market on the day we published (August 2026). The cheapest all-in plan at 1,000 kWh was 7.0 cents per kWh, earned through a bill credit that punishes low-usage months; bill-credit plans cut both ways. The cheapest flat plan with no credits, no tiers, and no time windows was 13.2 cents at 1,000 kWh. Every plan below publishes its full Electricity Facts Label before you enroll, day rate included.